Success Stories

Some of our feathered friends come to the Refuge as companions looking to find a true connection, whether human or bird. Read about residents who were welcomed to new homes.

Adopt

Interested in providing a forever home for a bird? Visit our adoption page to learn how you can be a part of this wonderful experience.

You Can Help

There are countless ways for you to become involved with homeless parrots. Help support our cause by making a donation or learning how you can become a volunteer!

Welcome

A Refuge for Saving the Wildlife is a no-kill parrot rescue, rehabilitation, education and adoption shelter. We provide a safe place for parrots that have to be re-homed due to unfortunate situations that sometimes arise. Most of them were loved dearly and cared for, and when that was no longer possible, their companion-people did the most selfless act of kindness in finding them a good home.

We work together with other parrot groups to eliminate the need for rescues. Until then, we will provide temporary housing and care for any and all Psittacine birds (not including those with fatal and/or contagious diseases); educate the public about the proper care of exotic birds; and locate healthy, happy, and nurturing homes for those that are eligible.

The Refuge is established with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)3 charitable corporation. We are licensed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Welfare to provide for adoptions. We are also a member of the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators.

Please note: We do NOT handle anything other than PARROTS, if you have found sick/injured wildlife, click here to find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

What's New at the Refuge?

See what has been happening here around A Refuge for Saving the Wildlife! To read more news, Click Here!

(CBS) Mira Tweti and Zazu, her pet parrot, are inseparable. Not because Tweti (pronounced Tweety, and yes, that's her real name) wants it that way, but because Zazu demands it, CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports. Tweti explains, "With a parrot there's only one place for everything in your home ... and that's on the floor. He's a huge amount of work."

Parrots are beautiful. They can talk, and do tricks. The average parrot has the intelligence of a 3- to 5-year-old child," Tweti says. With an estimated 40 million parrots in U.S. households, they're not far behind cats and dogs in popularity.

But owners soon learn Polly wants a cracker: hand-prepared food, plus all your time, attention and patience. Mira Tweti should know. She wrote a book on the difficult relations between parrots and people. "They can live to [age] 80," she explains. "They're loud, they poop incessantly, they love to chew. What you've got is a 3-year-old running around with a can opener on its face." And like a toddler, if they don't get the care and attention they need, they bite and scream. Or even worse, isolated in a cage these flock animals go stir crazy, mutilating themselves and plucking out feathers. It's all too much for many people.

Says Tweti: "These are long-lived animals that are designed to live in flocks. The average person would like to have some alone time, the average parrot doesn't want it." Declining in natural habitats, flocks of parrots are multiplying in some places, with 30,000 flying around cities from California to Brooklyn -- set loose by frustrated owners.

Growing even faster are parrot rescue centers, now found in every state. At the Garuda Aviary, part of a Buddhist monastery in Maryland, they're full to overflowing. "So many people realize they've taken on too much. So we get a lot of requests, but sadly, we are not able to fulfill them," says Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, the center's spiritual director.

It's such a big problem that the Humane Society now recommends unwanted birds be euthanized. Tweti promised to take care of Zazu when friends couldn't bear it any longer. Every day at some point I think to myself, 'I can't take it another minute'," Tweti says. And every few minutes, someone else is buying another parrot.

Donate

Volunteer

Are you looking to make a difference in the lives of parrots? Volunteer at a Refuge for a Saving the Wildlife. We rely on volunteers to support our mission and operations every day. You can be a part of our life-saving work.

Our Mission is Simple

To work in joint cooperation with all avian rescue groups to try and eliminate the need for rescue groups by educating the public about aviculture issues. Until that is accomplished, we will provide a sanctuary for those unfortunate parrots that are in need of a home.